Article on internet bandwidth on NCL ships and rollout

[the mice]

https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2023/07/the-battle-for-bandwidth/

 

Good news for Vista, other info is rather lacking.  

Edited July 18, 2023 by the mice
typos

[mauibabes]

Since we sailed on Vista two months ago and had Starlink, perhaps this news really isn’t new.  Yes it is CONSIDERABLY BETTER, my Tech buddy said about 3 times faster than the existing Wi-Fi on the existing Oceania ships. They can’t roll it out fast enough I am sure in the eyes of other guests. 
 

Mauibabes 

[Snaefell3]

Leaving aside polar extremes, ships could always have bought enough bandwidth to keep us happy.  The problem has always been the cost to the ship of that "enough bandwidth".  About a decade ago SES had a tech breakthrough that let them offer bandwidth at about 1/10th what had been the going rate. That's when we began to see at-home speeds at sea when under the O3b footprint: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:O3b_satellite_constellation.png.

 

A ship switching to Starlink can still choose just how much bandwidth to buy, so having your ship switch to Starlink doesn't necessarily mean it will indeed buy "enough bandwidth".  Worse, there is nothing saying that Starlink's current pricing is not a loss-leader, soon to go away.

 

Meanwhile, I'll stay glad the Vista is supposed to be on Starlink by the time I sail.  😉  ::crosses fingers::

 

[CurlerRob]

7 hours ago, the mice said:

https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2023/07/the-battle-for-bandwidth/

 

Good news for Vista, other info is rather lacking.  

 

Thank you for posting this - it was an interesting read.

 

IMO, there was a fair degree of word salad and little in the interview to suggest significant improvements in the near term, but the explanation of the competing demands onboard will be useful to many.

 

The area that caught my interest was the usage of port-based adjuncts to the shipboard service - that's a good example of complementary thinking and should offer the opportunity for enhanced service via the shipboard systems while in ports.

 

I'll continue to keep my expectations low and be pleasantly surprised when I stumble on fast internet while cruising! 🍺🥌

[the mice]

9 minutes ago, CurlerRob said:

The area that caught my interest was the usage of port-based adjuncts to the shipboard service -

For us that is T-Mobile.  We have the Magenta Max plan and get 5Gb of high speed data when traveling.  

[EJL2023]

17 hours ago, mauibabes said:

Since we sailed on Vista two months ago and had Starlink, perhaps this news really isn’t new.  Yes it is CONSIDERABLY BETTER, my Tech buddy said about 3 times faster than the existing Wi-Fi on the existing Oceania ships. They can’t roll it out fast enough I am sure in the eyes of other guests. 
 

Mauibabes 

Agree, was on Vista in May and had no issues with the Wi-Fi, once you navigated the wonky sign on process if using two devices and had only access for one device at a time. But hey, that should be a moot point with SimplyMore.  

[CurlerRob]

22 hours ago, the mice said:

For us that is T-Mobile.  We have the Magenta Max plan and get 5Gb of high speed data when traveling.  

 

You are fortunate to have access to plans that provide high function for relatively low cost - it's not that way all over the world ...

 

I interpreted the article as suggesting that a ship may plug into the shoreside cell network to enhance the bandwidth and speed available to pax using the ship connectivity versus personal plans. That would be a good add for pax. 🍺🥌